University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball Hosts Temple On Friday
January 08, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2004
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Game-Day Information
What: Temple (5-6 overall, 1-0 A-10) at Massachusetts (4-9, 0-2)
Where: William D. Mullins Center (9.493) * Amherst, Mass.
When: Friday, Jan. 9, 2004 * 7:00 p.m.
TV: None
Radio: WMUA, 91.1 FM in Amherst
Series: Temple leads, 22-18 (UMass is 10-9 at home and 6-1 in Mullins)
Game Day... The University of Massachusetts women's basketball team (4-9, 0-2) looks for its first Atlantic 10 Conference win of the season against Temple tonight at the Mullins Center. The Minutewomen, who have played just three games at home this season, have four of the next five games in Amherst. UMass trails in the all-time series with the Owls, 22-18, but are 10-9 at home and 6-1 in the Mullins Center. The Mintutewomen will be looking to snap a streak in which they have lost their last three home conference openers. At 0-2, Massachusetts is already two games out of first-place in the A-10 East making tonight's contest important. Temple is 5-6 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Tonight marks the Owls' first A-10 game on the road.
Scouting The Owls ... Temple University enters tonight's game with a 5-6 overall record and are 1-0 in A-10 play after Tuesday afternoon's win at home over Fordham. According to www.collegerpi.com, the Owls have played the nation's 23rd-toughest schedule. In addition to Fordham, Temple has also beaten Florida International, Eastern Tennessee State, Kentucky and Georgia State. It's losses have been to Michigan State, Pennsylvania, Villanova, LSU, Virginia and Florida. The Owls are averaging 62.6 ppg and allowing 64.6 ppg. They are shooting .412 from the field, .308 from three-point range and .658 at the free throw line. Temple has been out-rebounded, 37.8-33.5, and are committing just 14.8 turnovers a game.
Candice Dupree leads the team in scoring at 16.7 ppg and on the glass with 6.6 rpg. She also leads the squad with 14 blocked shots and is tied for the team lead with 15 steals. Cynthia Jordan is second on the squad with a 19.9 ppg average and has dished out a team-high 48 assists (4.36 apg). Christena Hamilton is just under double-figures as she is pouring in 9.9 ppg.
Head Coach Dawn Staley ... Just three seasons into her coaching career, head women's basketball coach Dawn Staley has won over 50 games, captured the university's first-ever Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship and made two trips to the post season, including the NCAA Tournament in 2002. Staley. who had no prior coaching experience before accepting the job at Temple, has averaged nearly 18 wins per season in her tenure and was named the 2002 Philadelphia Big Five Coach of the Year.
The Series ... This evening marks the 41st meeting between these two teams. Temple holds a slim 22-18 lead and has won five of the last seven games. Prior to that stretch, the Minutewomen had reeled off 13 wins in a row. UMass is 10-9 all-time against Temple at home, but holds a commanding 6-1 advantage in the Mullins Center.
The Last Time They Met ... Despite 17 points and 16 rebounds by Jen Butler, the University of Massachusetts women's basketball team dropped below the .500 mark for the first time on the season (12-13, 4-10), 47-42 to Temple (11-14, 7-7), before 1,949 fans at the Liacouras Center Feb. 23, 2003. Unlike the first time these two teams met, an 89-80 UMass win in overtime on Jan. 16, 2003 at the Mullins Center, this game was a defensive struggle. Temple led for just 46 seconds in the first half, but took an 18-16 into the locker room. Massachusetts shot just .259 (7-27) in the half and committed 12 turnovers, while the Owls connected at a .292 (7-24) clip from the field and turned the ball over nine times.
A three-pointer by junior Judit Zsedenyi at the 19:43 mark of the second half ended a 4:26 scoring drought for the Minutewomen and put them back on top, 19-18. The two teams then traded baskets for the next 10 minutes until Temple went on an 8-0 run spanning 2:37 to take an eight-point lead with 7:53 left. UMass answered back however with a 9-1 run of its own to tie the game at the 4:26 mark. Nekole Smith had a three-pointer during the run, while a baseline jumper by Ebony Pegues after a steal by Monique Govan tied the game at 36. Temple responded with a 6-0 run of its own on two trifectas by Stacey Smalls. UMass scored the next three points with a Zsedenyi free throw and a Butler basket, but Temple's Ari Moore scored on the other end to but the Owls back up five points with 1:40 left. The next trip down the floor, Butler went to the line at the 1:12 mark, but made just one of two shots. Needing a stop on the defensive end, UMass got it after the shot clock had been run down, but was unable to pull down the rebound. They had to foul and the Owls were able to take advantage, making four shots from the charity stripe down the stretch. Massachusetts shot just .288 (15-52) for the game, while committing 20 turnovers. It did outrebound the Owls, 42-30. Temple shot .362 (17-47) for the game and committed 15 turnovers. Butler was the team's only double-figure scorer as Smith had seven points, while Siiri Liivandi had six points and three rebounds and Zsedenyi and Pegues each had four points apiece. Smalls led the Owls with 16 points.
Road Woes ... Dating back to last season, the Minutewomen have now dropped 16 straight road games. The last win for Massachusetts on an opponents' home floor was over a year ago. It was a 59-45 win at Rhode Island on Dec. 9, 2002. Prior to that streak, the Minutewomen had been victorious on seven of nine straight road or neutral site contests. UMass is 0-8 in road contests so far in 2003-04, but 2-0 in neutral site games. The longest road losing streak in school history was a 17-game stretch from Jan. 23, 1989, 73-60 loss at Dartmouth, to Feb. 3, 1990, a 78-74 win at Harvard.
Home Cookin' ... Before the Dec. 30 63-49 win over UNC-Greensboro at the Mullins Center, it had been a while since the Minutewomen were last at home. The game against the Spartans marked the first time in nearly four weeks that UMass played in Amherst. It's last home game was a 54-49 win over Vermont on Dec. 3 in the Cage. The last game at the Mullins Center was a 68-63 loss to Holy Cross on Nov. 23. The Maroon & White have now won 14 of the last 17 games on its home floor, including seven of the past eight non-conference tilts. This season, UMass is scoring almost 10 more points per game at home, allowing four less points, shooting .055 percentage points better from the field and .118 percentage points better from the free throw line. UMass will play four of its next five games at home, all A-10 contests.
Stepping It Up ... After averaging just 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game last season, senior Judit Zsedenyi has dramatically stepped up her game. The Budapest, Hungary, native scored a career-high 21 points at Northeastern on Dec. 14 and now leads the team this year pouring in 10.5 points per game. She has scored at least 11 points in six of her last eight games. Zsedenyi is also averaging 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while playing in 33.0 minutes a game. Zsedenyi was named the Dinn Brothers/UMass Athlete of the Week on December 17.
Tough D ... One of the positives for Massachusetts this season has been the play by the defense. The Minutewomen have allowed just 59.1 points per game this season to rank second in the Atlantic 10 Conference and have held two of their opponents to a season-low in points. Both Fairfield (43) and Vermont (49) have come well short of its season averages against the UMass defense. Through 13 games, UMass opponents are shooting .413 from the field and committing 17.3 turnovers a game.
Tale Of Two Halves ... If college basketball was just a 20-minute game, the Minutewomen would be 9-4 this year instead of 4-9. Massachusetts has enjoyed a halftime lead in nine of its 13 games this season, including a 12-point advantage at La Salle Jan. 3. In games where UMass has surrendered the lead at intermission, it is shooting .517 (104-201) from the field in the first half, but just .324 (70-216) in the second stanza.
Who Said They Can't Rebound ... When Massachusetts lost the services of "Miss Everything" Jen Butler to graduation last year, people wondered where the rebounds were going to come from this season. Well, in its first six games, UMass has managed to equal or out-rebound the opposition each time. Last season, Butler led the nation grabbing 14.7 rebounds a game and only three other players were over 3.0. This year, six different Minutewomen are grabbing at least three rebounds a game. Following her career-high 15-rebound performance against Brown Nov. 30, junior Brooke Campbell leads the team and is second in the A-10 pulling down 8.0 boards a contest. It has also been the highest single-game rebound tally in the league this season. Classmate Edris Bailey has registered the other 15-rebound game this year when she grabbed the career-high tally Jan. 3 at La Salle. Bailey is averaging 5.2 rpg this year. Overall, UMass is out-rebounding its opponents, 35.3-31.2 and are second in the league with a +4.1 rebounding margin.
Don't Want To Dominate On The Glass Though ... UMass seems to play better this year when not out-rebounding the opposition. When either tied on the glass or being out-rebounded this season, UMass is 3-1. They are 1-8, however, when holding the edge on the glass. Dec. 30's win over UNC-Greensboro was the first and only time this season UMass out-rebounded its opponent and won.
Fiesta Bowl All-Tournament Team ... For the second time in as many weeks, UMass junior forward Brooke Campbell was named to an all-tournament team. This time, the Baltimore, Md., native was selected to the All-Tournament team of the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Tucson, Ariz. In two games at the McKale Center, Campbell had 28 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and two steals. For the season, Campbell is second on the team averaging 10.3 points per game and 8.0 rebounds a game. Her tally on the glass is good for second-best in the conference. Campbell is also averaging 1.7 assists, 0.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game.
Coca-Cola Classic All-Tournament Team ... Junior Brooke Campbell exploded for 37 points and 26 rebounds during the two-day Coca-Cola Classic, Nov. 29-30, at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Conn., en route to All-Tournament team honors. The Midland (Texas) Junior College transfer also added five assists, two blocks and four steals as the Minutewomen finished in third place. She was also named the Dinn Brothers/UMass Athlete of the Week on Dec. 3.
Sharpton's A Sharp-Shooter ... Redshirt sophomore Ashley Sharpton played a major role off the bench in the UMass 55-52 win over Brown on Nov. 30 as well as the 54-49 triumph over Vermont on Dec. 3 at the Cage. She tallied a career-high 10 points in 18 minutes to help the Minutewomen earn their first win of the season against the Bears. The UNC-Asheville transfer was 4-for-4 from the field, including 2-for-2 from three-point range, and also had a rebound and an assist. Against the Catamounts, she nailed two three-pointers in a 2:01 span to put UMass back up by 13 points after Vermont had cut a 20-point deficit down to five. For the season, the Conyers, Ga., native is averaging 3.4 points in 10.3 minutes. She is shooting .423 (11-26) from three-point land and has made at least one trifecta in six of her 11 games this season.
The All-Around Center ... The future looks bright for the Minutewomen if freshman Tamara Tatham continues this pace. A forward playing as a center this year, Tatham is fourth on the team with 8.3 points per game. She is also averaging 4.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.7 blocks and 1.5 steals per game. The Brampton, Ontario, native has reached double-figures in scoring in seven of the 13 games this season. Her line Dec. 30 against UNC-Greensboro was seven points, seven rebounds, six assists, a blocked shot and four steals.
Lucky 21 For Number 24 ... Junior Edris Bailey has poured in 21 points on two occasions this season. Most recently, she broke our for 21 points and 10 rebounds in the Minutewomen's 60-53 loss at Hartford on Dec. 21. She was 8-for-11 from the field and also added two steals in 32 minutes. In her Mullins Center debut, a 68-63 loss to Holy Cross on Nv. 23, she tallied 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting in just 20 minutes off the bench. Bailey is third on the team averaging 9.5 points, while also pulling down 5.2 rebounds per game. Her .496 shooting percentage is good for ninth in the league. In the three games from Dec. 21 until Jan. 3 (at Hartford, vs. UNC-Greensboro and at La Salle), Bailey averaged 18.3 ppg and 11.3 rpg. She was named the Dinn Brothers/UMass Athlete of the Week on Jan. 7.
Saint Joseph's Recap ... The University of Massachusetts women's basketball team (4-9, 0-2 Atlantic 10) dropped the second game of its Philadelphia roadtrip Jan. 6, 67-40, at the hands of St. Joseph's.
Junior forward Brooke Campbell (Baltimore, Md.) and senior guard Judit Zsedenyi (Budapest, Hungary) both posted 11 point efforts to lead the scoring for the Minutewomen. Campbell also posted a team-high six rebounds, while Zsedenyi notched two steals.
SJU (7-4, 2-0 Atlantic 10) dominated the early going, opening up a 21-7 lead in the first ten minutes. Irina Krasnoshiok scored ten points and capped the run with a three-pointer at the 10:34 mark. The Hawks continued to stifle the Massachusetts (4-9, 0-2) offense, forcing 18 turnovers that led to 27 SJU points in the half. The Minutewomen couldn't get on track, attempting just 17 shots and putting just 15 points on the scoreboard.
For the Hawks, it was a totally different story. The first half saw SJU shoot 21-for-31 (67.7%) from the field and post 16 assists on the 21 field goals. Krasnoshiok was 9-for-10 and set a season-high for points in the first half alone while the 50 points were the most scored in a period since a 61-point outburst in the second half against St. Bonaventure on February 24, 2001.
St. Joe's couldn't keep the same intensity in the second half. After falling behind by 38 points, 55-17 at the 16:43 mark, UMass played its best basketball of the game. The Minutewomen outscored SJU 23-12 for the remainder of the contest, but the Hawks' first half was too much of a cushion. The Crimson and Gray improved to 38-5 all-time against its A-10 rivals and 19-2 in the friendly confines of Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
Krasnoshiok was the only Hawk in double figures, while freshman Ayahna Cornish and senior Stephanie Graff chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively. Sophomore Faith Gross pulled down a game-high seven boards off the bench. Judit Zsedenyi and Brooke Campbell paced Massachusetts with 11 points each.
It's An International Thing ... This year's UMass roster certainly has an International feel to it. There are five players who are not from the US. Cleo Foster and Tamara Tatham are both from Ontario, Canada. Judit Zsedenyi is a native of Hungary, while junior redshirt Patrycja Gulak is from Poland. Edris Bailey is from Trinidad & Tobago.
Marnie's Army Leader ... With an 8-1 start last year, Massachusetts Head Coach Marnie Dacko enjoyed the best start of any UMass coach in their first season at the helm, not to mention the second-best start of any UMass team in the program's history as the 1968-69 team, which started 9-0, did not have a coach. When the Minutewomen downed Sacred Heart, 74-48 on Nov. 22 2002, Dacko became the seventh head coach out of nine in the program's history to win their first game on the UMass bench. The 1978 Southern Connecticut State University graduate is currently 18-22 (.450) at UMass and 98-126 (.438) overall in nine-plus seasons as a head coach. She is now just two wins shy of 100 in her career.
From Here ... Massachusetts remains at home on Sunday to host the University of Dayton at 2:00 p.m. in the Mullins Center. It is Take A Kid To The Game Day. Children, ages 18 and younger, will receive a free ticket with the purchase of a full-priced adult ticket. After a game at the University of Rhode Island (Jan. 16 at 12:00 p.m.), the Minutewomen return home for two more games. They will host St. Bonaventure on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 2:00 p.m., and then welcome Xavier to the Mullins Center on Friday, Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m.